Bloomington doctor Kamal Tiwari sentenced to 3 years in fraud case

Kamal Tiwari pleaded guilty to 2 counts

INDIANAPOLIS -
A Bloomington doctor has been sentenced to more than three years in prison on federal charges of unlawful drug distribution and health care fraud.

Dr. Kamal Tiwari, 60, pleaded guilty in March to two counts after he was indicted by a grand jury on 13 counts alleging that he prescribed narcotics when not medically necessary and defrauded insurers by performing unnecessary procedures.

Tiwari's practice was based out of two Bloomington businesses -- the Pain Management Center of Southern Indiana and the Pain Management & Surgery Center of Southern Indiana, Inc.

Tiwari admitted to defrauding Medicaid, Medicare and Anthem by performing numerous medical procedures on patients that were not medically necessary in an effort to increase the revenue of his medical practice.

Tiwari garnered more than $1.2 million from the medically unnecessary procedures, all of which must be repaid as part of his sentence.

"Today's sentencing holds accountable someone who betrayed both his profession and the trust of his patients, endangering lives and defrauding taxpayers of more than a million dollars," U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Hogsett said in a news release.

Officials had alleged that Tiwari's practices contributed to the deaths of several patients.

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